Chapter Text
“Kacchan…” Izuku looked at Katsuki with sad eyes, lips wobbling and tears gathering in the corner of his eyes, on the verge of crying.
“You’re…quirkless?”
“Yeah,” Katsuki has long gotten over that fact since he went to the doctor to get diagnosed. He has cried so much over the weekends, refusing to leave his bedroom and hugging his pillow tight as he stared at the All Might posters on the walls of his bedroom. He cried and yelled and hit as many things as he could, resulting in at least two broken vases and a bruise on his left hand.
He doesn’t have any tears left to shed.
Izuku was crying now, sobbing with tears and snot all over his face. “W- what s- should we do!” He cried.
Katsuki frowned, hitting Izuku’s head lightly. “Stop crying! We’re the same now, aren’t we Deku?!”
A week ago Izuku was diagnosed as quirkless. The other kids in their class have been making fun of Izuku, but Katsuki promised that when he got his quirk, it’ll be enough for the both of them and they can become heroes together.
Alas, Katsuki’s diagnosis in the following weekend proved otherwise.
Katsuki could hear the sounds of cicadas from the trees somewhere behind him. His frown deepened.
“B- but-” Izuku sniffed. “Now b- both of us c- can’t be heroes anymore!”
“Who said we can’t?!” Katsuki yelled.
But deep down, even at five years old, he doubted his own words.
“Bakugou~!”
“Whaddya want, pink fucker?” Katsuki grumbled out, eyes not leaving the fabric he was sewing.
“Look for a second, will you?” Katsuki huffed out a breath, turning off the sewing machine and looking at the pink haired girl beside him.
“Here!” Hatsume shoved a blueprint into his hands, grinning. “A blueprint for one of the gadgets I’m going to use for the sports fest! What do you think?”
Katsuki hummed, reading the blueprint as his other hand reached for the mug of cold coffee somewhere on his desk. He took a sip, face scrunching in regret and disgust, before throwing the liquid into a nearby trash can. Hatsume gasped as she said something about wasting perfectly good coffee, but Katsuki gave her the middle finger.
“It’s not bad,” Katsuki finally said, handing back the blue print. “Maybe add some stabilizer, and try to cover up the small parts, but other than that it’s basically good to go,” He nodded, before a frown appeared on his face, crossing his arms.
“Make sure it won’t fucking explode in the middle of the festival. Maijima-sensei already has enough on his plate because of you,”
Hatsume laughed, rolling the blueprint back up. “Don’t worry pomeranian-” Katsuki growled at the nickname- “You know that I would never let my precious babies explode!”
Katsuki raised a condescending eyebrow. Hatsume grinned innocently. Suddenly, an explosion racked through the labs, followed by shouts of distress.
“HATSUME!” Someone yelled, “I FUCKING SWEAR TO GOD I WILL PERSONALLY THROW OUT ALL YOUR GADGETS IF THEY DON’T STOP EXPLODING ON MINE-!”
“My babies!” Hatsume squawked, practically sprinting back to her desk to take care of the mess that she somehow made without even being there. Katsuki rolled his eyes (in exasperation, not fondly. Definitely not fondly,) and went back to piecing together the hero costume he was making.
His phone lit up, forced to vibrate silently as Katsuki had muted the phone’s notifications before. With an annoyed sigh, Katsuki grabbed his phone, only to pause when the familiar contact of a certain someone was the reason his phone lit up.
He declined the call.
No. He's not dealing with this today.
Katsuki let out a sigh. The last time he went to dinner with his old hag at Auntie Inko’s, the green haired woman was so happy, talking about how the nerd managed to get into U.A’s heroics course. His old hag also bragged the fact that Katsuki passed the entrance exam for U.A’s support course with flying colors, and both her and auntie were ecstatic that Katsuki and Izuku got into their dream school.
Katsuki knew, of course. After all, they opened their letters next to each other.
That entire time at dinner was spent with Katsuki glaring at Izuku, who could only look away in guilt.
He hasn't talked to Izuku yet since… that day. He was lucky that class 1-A didn’t participate in the opening ceremony and school orientation, or else he would’ve definitely bumped into the nerd. It was surprisingly easy, avoiding him. Other than their normal classrooms, the support course has their own floors where their labs were located, which were where Katsuki spent most of his time in. And the few times he has to go to the heroics classes for a couple of consultations (read: threatening some of them to change their costume designs because no way in hell Katsuki is making some of those) regarding their hero costumes, Katsuki pointedly ignored Izuku even as he tried getting his attention via waving his arms around. One of the students who he was talking to (the ponytail girl with a fucking leotard as a costume) politely told him about her classmate trying to talk to him. Katsuki scoffed and loudly said he doesn’t know the guy.
Katsuki couldn’t hide his smirk when the damned nerd slumped in his seat in defeat.
He still needs to be careful, though. He has seen Izuku a couple of times awkwardly standing around in the support labs floor or near his class, sometimes talking to one of Katsuki’s classmates asking about him. Izuku has almost caught him too many times for Katsuki’s comfort.
After the shitshow that was the day of the entrance exam, Katsuki really doesn’t want to deal with the nerd. Hopefully never, but he knew that someday, they would need to talk.
Not today though, he thought, as he finished up the sewing of the costume.
The doors that are the entrance for the 1-H support labs slid open. One tired looking Power Loader entered the labs, looking around before his gaze landed on Katsuki.
“Bakugou,” Maijima called, waving his hand gesturing to him to come near. Katsuki stood up from his seat, wiping his hands on his training trousers,
“Do ya’ need something, sensei?” The blond asked, crossing his arms.
Maijima shook his head. “Just want to ask if you’re participating in the sports fest?”
Katsuki nodded. “‘Course I am,”
The teacher nodded, writing something on the clipboard he brought with him. “Alright. After classes, meet me in the teacher’s lounge. I need to confirm what gadgets all of the participating support course students would be using. Gonna review it too, so bring them as well if you’ve finished. If not, just bring them to me somewhen before the festival,” Katsuki nodded. Maijima waved him off, making his way to Hatsume.
The rest of the day went by without anything spectacular happening. Lunch came and went, with Maijima-sensei once again entering the labs with boxed lunches from Lunch-Rush because he “‘knows damn well you brats aren’t gonna take a break,”.
He was right. Almost none of the students of 1-H went out to eat lunch. The few who did only came out to buy a quick snack or drink before going back. Katsuki begrudgingly accepted the boxed lunch Maijima-sensei gave him.
Katsuki almost didn’t notice how fast the time went by, and before he knew it, classes had ended, and it was noon already.
Not bothering to ask Hatsume to walk home together, knowing she would say no and stayed in the labs all night, Katsuki tidied his things into his bag, before grabbing a bundle of papers and blueprints that he had accumulated over the past couple of days and went on his way to the teacher’s lounge.
He knocked twice on the door before peeking his head into the room, looking around. Maijima-sensei noticed him, waving him over. Straightening his shoulders, he walked over to Maijima-sensei’s desk, gesturing to the papers in his hands.
“I’ve brought the goods,” Katsuki grinned when Maijima-sensei groaned.
“Don’t talk as if it’s a drug deal,” The teacher accepted the papers and blueprints, looking over them quickly. “I don’t see you bringing any of these gadgets here- so I’m assuming you’re not finished?” Maijima-sensei looked up, glancing at Katsuki’s empty hands.
“I need to work on them a bit more. I’ll bring them over sometime this week,” He simply said.
Maijima-sensei went ahead to ask him a couple more questions about the support gadgets he would be using for the sports festival, when the door to the teacher’s lounge was opened. Came in All Might in all his buff glory, and…
“Shit,” Katsuki muttered under his breath. Maijima-sensei raised an eyebrow at the language, but before he could say anything, the familiar annoying voice called out to Katsuki.
“Kacchan?” Izuku froze, before a beaming smile took over his face. “Kacchan! I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”
“Sensei,” Katsuki whipped his head back to Maijima-sensei. “We’re all done here right?”
Maijima-sensei nodded, eyes squinted in slight suspicion. “Yeah. I’ll probably email you later if I have any more inquiries. Other than that, you’re free to go home, Bakugou,”
Katsuki stiffly nodded, before hurriedly walking back to the door. Izuku, who moved to a desk with All Might, quickly caught up to him and grabbed his arm.
“Wait- Kacchan!”
“Get your hands off me.” Katsuki slapped Izuku’s hand away, glaring.
“But Kacchan! We need to talk-” A single glance could tell Katsuki that the teachers that were in the lounge were staring at them curiously now, some trying to hide that fact but were terrible at it. Aizawa-sensei, the 1-A homeroom teacher, looked a little annoyed by Katsuki’s harsh treatment.
“Shut up, Deku,” Katsuki growled. Izuku’s lips thinned. “No! Kacchan, we haven’t talk to each other since that day-”
“And I’d like it if we stay that way!” This time Katsuki stepped back when Izuku tried to reach for his hands again.
“Please, Kacchan! You kept ignoring my calls and texts! And even when I went to Aunt Mitsuki’s, you’re somehow always not there!”
“Maybe there is a reason for that. I didn’t expect your stupid ass to know that reason though,” He’ll probably get chewed out by Maijima-sensei if he keeps swearing.
“That’s why we need to talk! Seriously, just-”
“God, does it really hurt you to shut your mouth for once in your life?!”
Silence. Maijima-sensei was halfway out of his seat. Aizawa-sensei was actually up, eyes red as his quirk activated. It didn’t affect any of the two, of course, considering Katsuki is quirkless, and Izuku was used to the feeling of being quirkless. All Might and the rest of the teachers stayed quiet, and Katsuki really doesn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing.
“Stop- just stop, okay?” Katsuki finally sighed tiredly. “Just- leave me the fuck alone!”
Izuku crossed his arms. “If you want me to leave you alone so badly, why haven’t you blocked my number?”
“I-” Right. Why hasn't Katsuki blocked his number? “Thanks for the reminder then, nerd,” Katsuki walked out of the lounge, ignoring Izuku’s calls about “don’t block my number!”.
He would need to apologise to Maijima-sensei tomorrow.
“Stay away from Deku!” Katsuki yelled as Izuku cowered behind him. His words didn't really have any effect- their bullies only laughed harder.
“Or what? It's not like you can do anything Bakugou!”
“Both of you are useless y’know!”
“Worthless freaks like you lot should just die in a ditch somewhere!”
The words don't hurt anymore. It still stung–-of course it does—but by now Katsuki has learned to just ignore the dull pangs those words gave him.
It still hurts as much for Izuku, though. Kind, forgiving, Izuku, who can't- won't- see the worst of people and only look at their best. Always kind as to ask their classmates if they need any help with homework even if they would only shove him away. Always forgiving even when the bruises turned purple and blue and the scars were so deep they drew blood.
Kind, kind, kind. Kind and forgiving. Those two were words that when Katsuki heard or read them he could only think of Izuku and his curly green hair and kind emerald eyes and forgiving smile.
“Fuck off!” Katsuki yelled again when he finally had enough scars and Izuku was finally bleeding. And the bullies scoffed and finally left them alone. Izuku gripped Katsuki's arms tightly but not unkindly.
“Why do you tolerate those extras anyway?? You should tell them to fuck off like I did!”
Katsuki was harsh. Loud. Brash and rude. Because no one would listen to him if he was not any of that. But Izuku was none of those.
Kind and forgiving. Because-
“-Kacchan, we never know if they're actually struggling or not. Maybe they're having a hard time at home, or maybe they have few friends, or other problems too. So the least we could do is smile at them, be kind and forgive, because who knows when they would ever get those again,”
Katsuki knew that was all in vain. Being quirkless came with unwanted skills of becoming quiet and unnoticed when needed, to be light on his feet if he were needed to run, observing his surroundings became second nature and twisting his words has become so easy.
All the people from their school who have ever hurt them? Only one or two do actually need any help. In the case of those, Katsuki would approach them and coax them with sweet words about them not deserving whatever they were facing, and then they would leave Katsuki and Izuku alone again.
But the rest? No. They were just rich assholes who hurt them for the sake of it. Some of them even do it because they liked it, as sick as it sounded.
So Katsuki would lock their lockers and put chewed gum under their desks. Fireworks hidden around the corner and notebooks suddenly found clogged in the toilet.
And even so Izuku continued to be kind and forgiving because really, what else could Izuku be?
Katsuki scoffed, and shoved his hands deep into his pockets, before stalking off, knowing Izuku would closely follow him behind. The way to the train station was not far, and they were lucky enough that the train they needed to take was only ten minutes away.
The railway platform wasn't crowded, but it wasn't empty either. The afternoon orange glow bathed the entire place in warm golden hues.
“Katsuki,” Katsuki turned around to look at Izuku. The green-haired friend of his was smiling softly at him.
“Thank you,”
The loud sound of the speaker above him announcing the arrival of the next train startled Katsuki out of his thoughts. He shook his head.
The railway platform wasn’t crowded, but it wasn't empty either. Most of the people there were office workers who just finished their jobs or students like Katsuki. A few people gave him glances as they noticed the red shoes he was wearing. He ignored them.
The afternoon sun painted the station in orange and golden hues. The group of girls also waiting for the train behind them was giggling. A woman with two young children holding onto her arms was smiling fondly. A pair of office workers were talking to each other, faces red.
Katsuki felt cold.
The train arrived. When the doors opened, Katsuki stepped in.